{"id":10294,"date":"2019-09-26T16:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T21:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/vaping-survey-data-roundup\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:17:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T06:17:58","slug":"vaping-survey-data-roundup","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/09\/26\/vaping-survey-data-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"Before recent outbreak, vaping was on the rise in U.S., especially among young people"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
An employee vaping at a store in New York City. A July 2018 Gallup survey found young adults are more likely than older people to vape, but less likely to smoke cigarettes. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

An outbreak of lung injuries among e-cigarette users across much of the United States has focused national attention on the potential dangers of vaping, prompting the federal government<\/a> and some states<\/a> to take policy steps in response.<\/p>\n\n

The exact cause of the respiratory illness has not yet been determined, and there is\u00a0still uncertainty<\/a>\u00a0surrounding the specific health risks associated with vaping.\u00a0E-cigarettes<\/a>\u00a0create a water vapor that users inhale, using cartridges that typically contain nicotine, flavorings or cannabis products along with chemicals.<\/p>\n\n

As medical professionals and policymakers grapple with questions over e-cigarettes and public health, here\u2019s a look at what survey data \u2013 gathered before the recent outbreak \u2013 shows about e-cigarette use in the United States.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

The shares of secondary students who have vaped nicotine in the past month have roughly doubled since 2017. <\/strong>From 2017 to 2019, the shares who had done so increased among 12th graders (11% to 25%), 10th graders (8% to 20%) and 8th graders (4% to 9%), according to preliminary data from the University of Michigan\u2019s Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\"Growing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

In addition, vaping increased among college students from 2017 to 2018, the most recent year for which MTF has released data<\/a> for this group. In fact, the uptick in vaping among college students for nicotine (from 6% in 2017 to 16% in 2018) and marijuana (from 5% to 11%) were among the greatest one-year increases for any<\/em> substance asked about since the survey was first administered in 1975. (The long-running annual survey is first distributed to a nationally representative sample of students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades, and a randomly selected sample from each senior class continues to receive surveys biannually after finishing high school.)<\/p>\n\n

\"Nicotine,<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Nicotine was the most commonly cited substance being used in e-cigarettes for most groups of students in 2018. Vaping just flavoring, by comparison, was more common for 12th graders (14%), 10th graders (13%) and eighth graders (8%) than for college students (5%) in the previous month.<\/p>\n\n

Across all four student levels, the overall shares who report vaping any<\/em> substance during the last 30 days have increased since 2015.<\/p>\n\n

Young adults are more likely than older people to vape, but less likely to smoke cigarettes. <\/strong>In a July 2018 Gallup poll<\/a>, 9% of U.S. adults said they \u201cregularly or occasionally\u201d vape \u2013 still below the 20% who said they \u201cregularly or occasionally\u201d smoke cigarettes<\/a>. Two-in-ten Americans ages 18 to 29 said they vape, compared with 8% of those ages 30 to 64 and fewer than 0.5% among those 65 and older.<\/p>\n\n

Although adults are more likely to smoke than to vape, the share of 18- to 29-year-olds who smoke traditional cigarettes has fallen over time. In the early 2000s, about a third of young adults (34%) reported smoking cigarettes<\/a> in the past week \u2013 the largest percentage of any age group, according to Gallup. In July, just 14% of young adults said they smoked<\/a> in the previous week, compared with 19% of those ages 30 to 49 and 18% of those 50 to 64.<\/p>\n\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"Younger<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

As of summer 2018, those under 30 were less likely than older Americans to believe vaping is harmful<\/a> to one\u2019s health. Roughly one-fifth of U.S. adults (22%) under age 30 said vaping is “very harmful”<\/a> to one’s health, compared with 40% of adults ages 30 to 64 and 48% of those 65 and older, according to the same July 2018 Gallup survey<\/a>. Comparatively, large majorities of Americans say smoking conventional<\/em> cigarettes is very harmful to one\u2019s health, but there were no significant differences by age: Eight-in-ten or more in each age group said that smoking cigarettes is \u201cvery harmful\u201d to one\u2019s health. \n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"Before<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

As of this past summer, roughly two-thirds of Americans said they would like to see tighter e-cigarette regulations. In a July 2019 Gallup survey<\/a>, 64% of U.S. adults said laws and regulations covering e-cigarettes should be made more strict, while around a quarter (26%) said regulations should stay as they are now. Just 5% said these laws and regulations should be less strict.<\/p>\n\n

Younger Americans \u2013 those ages 18 to 29 \u2013 were split on laws surrounding e-cigarettes: While roughly half (49%) said laws should be made more strict, 42% said laws should be kept as they are. By comparison, roughly two-thirds or more of older adult groups said regulations covering e-cigarettes should be made more strict.<\/p>\n\n

Women were also more likely than men to favor stricter laws and regulations (71% vs. 57%).<\/p>\n\n

Vaping by friends or family is a common reason why some students choose to do it.<\/strong> Among students in grades six through 12 who said they had ever used an e-cigarette, the most common reason given was use by a friend or family member (39%), according to the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Roughly one-third of these students (31%) said they used an e-cigarette because of availability of \u201cflavors such as mint, candy, fruit, or chocolate,\u201d while 17% said they used it because they perceived them to be \u201cless harmful than other forms of tobacco such as cigarettes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Less common reasons cited by middle and high schoolers for using e-cigarettes were because \u201cthey are easier to get than other tobacco products, such as cigarettes\u201d (5%), \u201cthey cost less than other tobacco products such as cigarettes\u201d (3%) and \u201cfamous people on TV or in movies use them\u201d (2%).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid questions over e-cigarettes and public health, here\u2019s a look at what data shows about vaping in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063532","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[102,105,453,371,267,206],"bylines":[850],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[521,525,529,526,527,528,522,520,523,517,518,519],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-10294","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-drug-policy","category-health-policy","category-leisure","category-lifestyle","category-medicine-health","category-teens-youth","bylines-katherine-schaeffer","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-data-labs","research-teams-global","research-teams-global-migration-and-demography","research-teams-internet","research-teams-journalism","research-teams-methods","research-teams-pew-research-center","research-teams-politics","research-teams-race-and-ethnicity","research-teams-religion","research-teams-science","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":"Short 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